Music and the Church

Today's Music and the Church episode features a conversation with Noel A. Snyder about his new book Sermons That Sing: Music and the Practice of Preaching. More about Sermons That Sing: Preaching and music are both regular elements of Christian worship across the theological spectrum. But they often don't interact or inform each other in meaningful ways. In this Dynamics of Christian Worship volume, theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how the church's preaching might be helpfully informed by musical theory. Just as a good musical composition employs technical elements like synchrony, repetition, and meter, the same should be said for good preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ. By drawing upon music that lifts the soul, preachers might craft sermons that sing. Noel A. Snyder (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is program manager at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University and an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza is back after a summer hiatus while I finished writing and editing my book Professional Christian: Being Fully Yourself in the Spotlight of Public Ministry (coming your way Spring 2022) - glad to be back into podcasting mode!  Today's episode is an interview with my friends Nathan Myrick and Mark Porter. They have a new collection of essays out - Ethics and Christian Musicking - and we discuss why both researchers and practitioners of Christian music should consider ethical questions as they research and/or make music in Christian communities.  Sign up for my free newsletter here!

Dr. Mark Chaves, director of the National Congregations Study, shares recent highlights from the survey and how they compare with the last 20 years of data. The National Congregations Study is a wide-ranging survey of congregations in the U.S. It's taken place four times (starting in 1998), and results of the fourth wave are just being released. Explore the National Congregations Study here. And if you'd like to read about church music highlights from the study, you can check out this series (my very first blog posts!).

Imagine you have a beautiful garden in your backyard with amazing sunlight and soil, and plenty of room for practically whatever flowers and vegetables your heart desires. But then you move to a small apartment, and your only outdoor space is a teeny balcony with just enough room for some pots and planters. That's like our current reality as musicians: in the pandemic, we are constrained by limited in-person music making, closed church buildings, virtual choirs and so on. But amidst this disruption and constraint we're living with, we can still make music - we can still make a beautiful garden on that little balcony. It just looks different from the backyard we used to work in and will hopefully return to soon. Join me in this podcast and video to discover your own inspiration for growth and develop a plan to nourish your musical soul. This month's Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza episode is from a workshop I taught for my local American Guild of Organist's chapter. Here's the video if you'd like to watch it, and if you'd like to listen to the podcast, tune in above, or find Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza in your favorite podcast player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yyUZ6wPRkg Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Let's take stock of where we are in the marathon of the pandemic and of the program year. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

I am so delighted to be talking with author Andy Thomas about his new book Resounding Body: Building Christlike Church Communities through Music. So often we think that a great church music program must be heavy on financial resources, but he "encourages music leaders to step up and persevere in low-resource contexts, and challenges all those who lead music in worship to refocus on building communities, not just on producing musical results." It's a lovely conversation, and I hope you listen in. About Andy Thomas: Andy Thomas is an organist, pianist and choir director with over 25 years' experience of reinvigorating music in churches from different Christian traditions in the UK and overseas Purchase Resounding Body: You can purchase a copy of Resounding Body: Building Christlike Church Communities through Music through your local bookstore, or online in places like Bookshop and Amazon. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this episode, Dr. Adan Fernandez shares his positive approach to virtual rehearsals and performances. Dr. Adan Fernandez is the Director of Music at Holy Family Catholic Community in Glendale, CA, and is the Campus Organist at California Lutheran University. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: Spitfire Plugin Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong, four of the authors of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship. This is the second of two episodes on Flow - click here to find last month's episode with Lester Ruth, Zachary Barnes, and Adam Perez. More about Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship Here’s a fuller description of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship by Lester Ruth: Is there a way to do the prescribed or suggested orders of worship from denominational worship resources—such as the United Methodist Book of Worship, Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship, the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), or the Book of Common Prayer—in a way that feels legitimately and authentically contemporary? This practical, how-to book will help churches plan and implement passionate and invigorating worship. Step by step, author Lester Ruth and contributors Zachary Barnes, Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Adam Perez, Glenn Stallsmith and Deborah Wong break down the process of re-thinking what the official or recommended order of worship is truly suggesting, so pastors and worship leaders can plan and lead a service of Word and Table that feels genuinely relevant and attuned to the congregation’s culture. With this goal, Flow casts a new, but classic, understanding of traditional worship as well as spurs a reconsideration of how contemporary worship can be done by honoring the traditions of denominational congregations. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Lester Ruth, Zachary Barnes, and Adam Perez, three of the authors of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship. This is part one of two parts; next month's episode continues with Flow's four other authors: Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Glenn Stallsmith, and Deborah Wong. Resources We Mentioned in the Episode: Paul Baloche on YoutubeLester Ruth and Swee Hong Lim on Episode 3 of Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza More about Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship Here's a fuller description of Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship by Lester Ruth Is there a way to do the prescribed or suggested orders of worship from denominational worship resources—such as the United Methodist Book of Worship, Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship, the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), or the Book of Common Prayer—in a way that feels legitimately and authentically contemporary? This practical, how-to book will help churches plan and implement passionate and invigorating worship. Step by step, author Lester Ruth and contributors Zachary Barnes, Andrew Eastes, Jonathan Ottaway, Adam Perez, Glenn Stallsmith and Deborah Wong break down the process of re-thinking what the official or recommended order of worship is truly suggesting, so pastors and worship leaders can plan and lead a service of Word and Table that feels genuinely relevant and attuned to the congregation’s culture. With this goal, Flow casts a new, but classic, understanding of traditional worship as well as spurs a reconsideration of how contemporary worship can be done by honoring the traditions of denominational congregations. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Listen in for an in-depth interview with Dr. Alisha Lola Jones about her new book Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance. Resources: Dr. Alisha Lola JonesAlisha on Twitter, Facebook, and InstagramFlaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance by Alisha Lola Jones (hardcover and paperback, Kindle, Nook) More about Flaming? Here's a longer description of Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance by Alisha Lola Jones: Male-centered theology, a dearth of men in the pews, and an overrepresentation of queer males in music ministry: these elements coexist within the spaces of historically black Protestant churches, creating an atmosphere where simultaneous heteropatriarchy and "real" masculinity anxieties, archetypes of the "alpha-male preacher", the "effeminate choir director" and homo-antagonism, are all in play. The "flamboyant" male vocalists formed in the black Pentecostal music ministry tradition, through their vocal styles, gestures, and attire in church services, display a spectrum of gender performances - from "hyper-masculine" to feminine masculine - to their fellow worshippers, subtly protesting and critiquing the otherwise heteronormative theology in which the service is entrenched. And while the performativity of these men is characterized by cynics as "flaming," a similar musicalized "fire" - that of the Holy Spirit - moves through the bodies of Pentecostal worshippers, endowing them religio-culturally, physically, and spiritually like "fire shut up in their bones". Using the lenses of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, men's studies, queer studies, and theology, Flaming?: The Peculiar Theo-Politics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance observes how male vocalists traverse their tightly-knit social networks and negotiate their identities through and beyond the worship experience. Author Alisha Jones ultimately addresses the ways in which gospel music and performance can afford African American men not only greater visibility, but also an affirmation of their fitness to minister through speech and song. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

On today's episode, Jessica French shares her compositions, how her compositional process is influenced by synesthesia, as well as her work as a soprano and music educator. Find out more about Jessica French and explore her choral compositions here. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art - Barb Rosenstock (Author) Mary Grandpre (Illustrator)Internal monologue

You know the old joke: if you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. Be that as it may, here's how I'm planning for the fall. Not the usual hymns + anthems + a few handbell pieces, but plans nonetheless. Yes, the plans will change, but sometimes it's good to imagine the possibilities. (Plus, I have a baby due in mid-August, so I need at least a few things in place!) I hope hearing my plans will give you some ideas for the coming months.  Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: An Easier Way to Make a Virtual Choir Video It's Flowchart Time

What does music ministry look like - sound like - right now? Whatever your answer, it's certainly different from what it would have been earlier this year. On this episode, Brian Hehn and I discuss leaning into our identities as music ministers, and why that focus is an important aspect of our work as church musicians all the time, not just right now. Brian Hehn is the Director of the Center for Congregational Song, a wing of the The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. He has also ministered as a church musician for many years. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

We're putting church music online - whether we want to or not. Fortunately, we're finding lots of grace and permission to fail as we figure out what on earth we're doing! Craig Harmann and I talk about our mindsets as we live in this new season of life as church music directors. Craig Harmann is a music director and educator based in Houston, Texas. He also produces the Church Music Makers blog and podcast. Find more about him and his resources for church musicians here. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Delvyn Case is bringing people together by creating conversations around sacred music. And he's creating these conversations not just with other musicians, but with folks who haven't trained to talk about music by coupling live musical performances with guided dialogue. Today, we talk about the values around Scripture and community that motivated his founding of Deus Ex Musica, plus the events that Deus Ex Musica is producing to support the connection between sacred music and faith formation. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: Delvyn CaseDeus Ex Musica

Want to program more music by women composers? Selah Publishing has just released a fantastic new choral series edited by Sarah MacDonald, and all the composers are women: Sarah Cattley, Elizabeth Coxhead, Eleanor Daley, Elizabeth Kimble, Stephanie Martin, Ceclie McDowall, Annabell Rooney, and Sarah MacDonald. In this conversation with Sarah MacDonald and Selah's founder and president David Schaap, we talk about the origins of this choral series, the breadth of music it already covers, and plans for future publications. Resources Sarah MacDonald Choral Series by Selah PublishingA video introduction to the Sarah MacDonald Choral Series"Silent in the Churches" An Illustrated Lecture by Sarah MacDonaldThe Women Composers Challenge Enjoy this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

What are your favorite hymnals? Crawford Wiley and I talk about our top five favorites. Since none are hymnals that our congregations sing from, we use them in our service planning and sometimes devotionally. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: The United Methodist HymnalHymnal 1982Common PraiseEvangelical Lutheran WorshipGlory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal Transcript of Our Favorite Hymnals on Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza Ep. 46 Favorite Hymnal 1: Common Praise Sarah Bereza: Crawford, why don't you start out - what is one of your favorite hymnals? Crawford Wiley: Yeah, so one of my very favorite hymnals is one that I first encountered when you and I were at the Christian Congregational Music Conference in Cuddesdon. What year was that? Was that 2015? Sarah Bereza: I know we've been 2015, 2017, and 2019. Crawford Wiley: Yes, that would be 2015. We were attending services at Christ Church in Oxford. And the hymnal there had this kind of striking, modern cover and I thought, Oh, this is interesting. It's a kind of thick little book and paging through it. It's called Common Praise, I should give the title. And it was published in 2000. It is the latest imprint of Hymns Ancient and Modern, for anyone who's familiar with that and all of its iterations. And some things about it are pretty standard. You've got four parts, or depending on which hymnal you've bought, just the melody line on one page, and then opposite or underneath it, the block of text. So that's a pretty common feature in Hymns Ancien and Modern and in a lot of hymnals, particularly in the UK. Sarah Bereza: I'm wondering - is this a UK kind of thing? Because I have not seen that in any American hymnals for congregational use in any recent version. Crawford Wiley: Yeah, I think that having the text interleaved between the stage of the music is a really common American thing. I think this is also by the way, why we kind of get used to the idea of hymn texts generally being about four stanzas. Because four stanzas is about as many stanzas as you can interleave between treble and bass clef. And then you have to shove them to the bottom and no one sings them. Sarah Bereza: Yeah, once you have five, it's hard to read the one in the middle and sing the alto line or whatever. Crawford Wiley: Yeah, interesting side effect of that. So one of the things that struck me about Common Praise was first of, it has a lot of hymns. Let me go all the way to the back here and see just how many we're talking about. This has 628 hymns which, for a hymnal that is not difficult to hold, is kind of a lot of hymns. Sarah Bereza: As I recall, it's a pretty, it's like a really chunky book and the paper is on the thin side. Crawford Wiley: Yeah, it's very satisfying to hold. It's kind of a nice little heft to it, but it's not awkward at all. And again, this is the edition that has the four-part harmonizations for the music. One of the things that the editors did was kind of two priorities that I wish were done more frequently in hymnals. They included a lot of new tunes and new texts, not just new texts set to old tunes. So instead of like the 13 different texts set to Hyfrydol that you encounter in some modern hymnals, you're going to get a new tune for those newer texts or an old tune, but that we haven't sung in a while, you know, so it's not just setting newer takes on texts to old tunes. Sarah Bereza: And I'm guessing these are pretty decent tunes that are singable? Because sometimes you get tunes where I'm like, huh, that's a lot of syncopation for your average choir, right? Crawford Wiley: No, these are these are really singable tunes. Some of them you've probably heard before. And some of these newer tunes are also from the just previous edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern w...

How can singing foster our relationships with strangers? And how can singing not just foster relationships, but be a powerful means of hospitality? Dr. Helen Phelan draws on her ethnographic work with a Congolese-Irish choir to show the potential of "sonic hospitality" through singing together. About Dr. Helen Phelan Helen Phelan is Professor of Arts Practice at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is an Irish Research Council recipient for her work on singing, ritual and new migrant communities in Ireland. Her most recent book, Singing the Rite to Belong: Music, Ritual and the New Irish, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. As a singer, she specializes in chant from global religious ritual and is the co-founder of the female vocal group Cantoral who released the much acclaimed CD recording Let the Joyous Irish Sing Aloud! in 2014. She is also founder of the Singing and Social Inclusion research group at the University of Limerick. About Dr. Joshua Kalin Busman Thanks especially to Dr. Joshua Kalin Busman, this episode's guest interviewer! Josh has been on Music and the Church before discussing Virtuosity, Amateurism, and Amateurishness in Evangelical Worship. Joshua is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina - Pembroke. He teaches music history and music theory in the Department of Music and serves as Interim Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Transcript of Singing, Hospitality and the Sacred Stranger, with Helen Phelan, on Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza, Ep. 45 Helen Phelan: My name is Helen Phelan. I work in a place called the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. It's at the University of Limerick in Ireland. The Academy was set up in 1994. And it was quite experimental at the time because it was trying to create a space where you would bring together the academic study of performance with theory. And I came into that as a ritual scholar. And so the two areas that I work in mostly are medieval singing - medieval music and chant - and then the kind of work that I was presenting on this morning, which is music and migration. So what are the different kinds of ritual practices that have evolved around new migrant groups in Ireland, and what role is music playing in creating spaces of welcome or hospitality or the opposite? Joshua Busman: One of the themes of this conference has been the the study of religion - especially the study of congregational music - is already interdisciplinary right from the beginning. But I'm curious, what are your interdisciplinary backgrounds. Helen Phelan: I was I began my education as a musician. I am a pianist, I have a background in musicology and ethnomusicology, and I moved into liturgical music through ritual studies. I was teaching music, and I was really struck by how much the teaching of music relies on the theory about music, and the big divide between being a musician, making music, singing, playing an instrument - and the way we theorize about it. And at the same time, I was just, you know, earning my keep as a young student, as a church organist, and working in the church. And I really became fascinated by ritual because I think ritual has this kind of holistic sense. It uses the mind the body, it uses all of our senses, our sense of smell…. And I thought, that's a space that brings all of these together. And I wanted to try to understand that better. So that's what brought me into studying ritual, and the way in which music works in ritual to create these spaces where people interact in different ways from the way we do in our normal day to day life. Joshua Busman: Yeah, I think I remember when I was an undergrad, talking with the professor and talking about my certain interest in r...

What language does God speak, and how can the metaphor of language help us better understand our relationship to God? Dr. Jean Kidula, Professor of Music at the University of Georgia, shows how thinking about dialect expands our ways of thinking about the music we use to worship God. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: Music in Kenyan Christianity: Logooli Religious Song by Jean Kidula Transcript of The Language of God with Jean Kidula, on Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza Ep. 44 Sarah Bereza: Let's start out by talking about Song as a kind of metaphor, song as something that is a way to speak with, and to, and about God. What do you think about that? Jean Kidula: That I think has been a fundamental part of many religions, that people use song to speak to God, to speak about God, to speak for God. In that sense, a mode of communication or as a representation, or as a way of emphasizing particular types of either words, activities, injunctions from God - where song becomes an effective carrier or an effective mode, or the Word itself, you know, because it's more than text, just words themselves. Because in the song there are ways that you actually pitch it that gains attention. So we have lots of instances in many religions where people intone or recite, and it's not real speech, it feels like recitation or something. And then it develops into song when people start to emphasize certain aspects of it as being maybe crucial or central to the message. So it's it's not a novel thing to think like that - not just about the text, but actually about what how you pitch it, and how you tone it, and what pitches you use, what emotion you're going to portray in whatever melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic gestures you use, that sometimes are associated with particular messages, or particular people, or deities. So it's not a strange thing. Song Dialects Can Teach Us About the Language God Speaks Sarah Bereza: So we have this metaphor of language for song, or song as a language and as a means of speaking to God, and with God, and about God. And then we have this understanding of a song as a dialect. So it might be like a genre song or regional practice something, something that's localized. And you've said something really interesting about this, and I'm going to quote you now, "Some dialects collectively denote an understanding about the language God speaks." So we have the Christian here (or collectively as a congregation), speaking to God, and we have God speaking to us. Jean Kidula: I get fascinated by God as a believer because I am so different from you, but He speaks to us in the dialect that we understand individually. And you have a tribe of people that are part of your musical group, who speak a certain dialect of music, and I speak another dialect, and maybe there's some that we speaking in common. God understands all of them. That's where I come from. The differences that we have, tell us something about our own differences. But at the same time, they tell us something about the diversity of who God is. Sarah Bereza: Like how big God is? Jean Kidula: Not just, yes, let's see how big God is. But how, like my father used to say, how vast is the sum. You know that that verse that says "how vast is the sum of them, were I to number them?" The thoughts that God has, for me, personally, are so vast, or His ways are so magnificent. And it's like a kaleidoscope of colors. And you might like blue. And just one shade of blue, and blue is a dialect of of color. I don't think that many people think about how the others relate to God as a dimension of the glory of God. So sometimes people think a dialect is the total language. A dialect is just one type in the language. Sarah Bereza: Yes, just one piece.

In this conversation with Dr. John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, we talk about making change in our churches in a week-by-week process, the importance of resources to validate aspects of ministry that aren't currently supported, and - the big one - how important teachability and curiosity is to leadership. About John Witvliet: John D. Witvliet is director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of worship, theology, & congregational and ministry studies at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. He is editor for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series (Eerdmans), author of The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship: A Brief Introduction and Guide to Resources (Eerdmans), Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows into Christian Practice (Baker Academic), and collaborating editor for several hymnals, children’s books, and scholarly books, including Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity in Religious Practice (University of Notre Dame Press). Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. A Transcript of Strengthening Congregational Song with John Witvliet, on Music and the Church Ep. 43 Teachability in Church Leadership Sarah Bereza: Let's talk about the wealth of resources for church musicians out there. John Witvliet: So many different areas of study in a really robust worship conference or a robust academic conference a on church music that can inform the life of a church musician. It's the the story of a hymn that you might not sing next Sunday. People have reflected on performance practice of a favorite style of music. It's people who reflect deeply on how people receive music and how people find music to be healing and the role of music and pastoral care. And you know, how many different disciplines can strengthen the life of a church musician - it's ethnomusicology, it's also music education, music therapy, history of music, history of liturgical music, it's so many different areas of reflection. Sarah Bereza: I'm hearing this and thinking and yet so often for a church musician, there's only one area that they have very much exposure to. John Witvliet: Exactly right. Yeah. And actually for any of us, I think there can be fear and trepidation to learn from areas where we feel less strong. We feel not sure of ourselves. Sarah Bereza: It can be scary to be the newbie. John Witvliet: It is. And in perhaps it's a willingness to grow, a desire to grow, a kind of curiosity - you know, a growth mindset. It's true in every area of life, but certainly in church leadership where a desire to grow and a spirit of being teachable might be one of the top criteria. Churches would be healthier places if teachability were one of the key criteria for every single leadership position. Sarah Bereza: So we just need to end the podcast right there because there's the message. John Witvliet: Right, right. What are your church's crucial areas of growth? Sarah Bereza: You have been part of the grants program at the Calvin Institute of Worship for quite a while now. And so you've gotten a different, maybe a different kind of angle on growth and music in churches because you're looking at it from not just an academic perspective, but a grantor perspective, not just as a practitioner in the church. Can you tell us about that? John Witvliet: Sure. So it is a great joy every year to receive grant applications from teams in worshipping communities. These are collaboratively produced proposals. And they really represent the deep yearnings of a church. There's a pastoral discernment process that goes into a grant application. Essentially, we're inviting churches ask the question, "What is a an especially crucial area of growth that you feel God is calling your congregation...

Learn about: the Old Hispanic Chant, methods for analyzing music we can't hear, and what we can learn from medieval processions. Here's the Big Why: "I think these artifacts that we have - these musical and liturgical artifacts - are as valuable as a Gothic cathedral. And in a way even more valuable, because a Gothic cathedral is a space in which something precious happens. But we have the evidence of the Something Precious. And if we take that seriously, and we look at it, there's a huge amount for us to learn about how to approach God in different ways." - Emma Hornby About Emma Hornby: Dr. Emma Hornby is Professor of Music at the University of Bristol, UK. She works on Western liturgical chant, and in recent years has focused on the Old Hispanic rite. She is currently leading a Leverhulme International Network, collaborating with colleagues in Spain to explore the processional practices of early medieval Iberia. Her recent research focuses on how Old Hispanic chant texts and melodies interact in order to promote a particular devotional state or theological understanding. Her books include Music and Meaning in Old Hispanic Lenten Chants (co-authored with Rebecca Maloy) and Medieval Liturgical Chant and Patristic Exegesis. Manuscript image above from "Musical Values and Practice in Old Hispanic Chant" by Emma Hornby Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Transcript of Old Hispanic Chant, with Emma Hornby Sarah Bereza: Old Hispanic chant - where did it come from? Emma Hornby: Old Hispanic chant is what they sang in modern day Spain and Portugal up until about the year 1080. And it seems to have been composed, compiled in the seventh century. Our earliest evidence is a little bit later, early 8th century, but so this is very ancient Christian chant. It's Latin, it's Roman Catholic, but it's not Gregorian chant. It's absolutely not the liturgy and not the chant that they were doing in Rome or across the rest of Western Europe. It's a local way of singing in worship. How does Old Hispanic Chant Relate to Gregorian Chant? Sarah Bereza: Can you tell us a little bit about the story of Gregorian chant and other kinds of chant. I think many of our listeners will have experienced Gregorian chant, but there are so many other regional chant families. Emma Hornby: In the very early Middle Ages, I mean as Christianity was spreading across Europe, pretty much everybody was singing chant, but there was no sense that there was one authoritative way of doing it. There is a tradition which is associated with Milan, which we still have much later manuscripts in the manuscripts of 12th century, but we have that tradition. Then there were traditions associated with Gaul. We've lost almost all of that, the traditions associated with Ireland. Again, we've lost almost all of that. Benevento in southern Italy and then Iberia, Spain and Portugal. And then there were chant traditions also associated with Rome. Emma Hornby: In the eighth century for various reasons, the emperors of pretty much what's modern day France and Germany - Francia - took on the Roman way of doing liturgy and the Roman way of singing that went with it (or what they thought it was the Roman way of singing that went with it). And that's what spread like wildfire across western Europe. So that by the 10th or 11th century, they were pretty much singing the same songs on the same days, right across western Europe, from Dublin to Dubrovnik. And we have evidence from both ends of that at that scale. Sarah Bereza: This is kind of a political unification - by unifying liturgical elements, unifying the empire. Emma Hornby: Absolutely. And it came with a narrative of authority and of uniformity. So it wasn't just Roman chant but this was Gregorian chant whispered into the ear of Pope Gregory the great by the Dove of the Hol...

Music and faith, music and belief - what's the difference, and how can music illuminate our lived experiences of faith? This is the first of five episodes featuring conversations I recorded this summer with the plenary speakers of the Christian Congregational Music Conference. It was a joy to talk with them, and I'm so glad I get to share these conversations with you! (Scroll down if you'd like to read the transcript of this episode.) About Jonathan Arnold: Rev. Dr. Jonathan Arnold is the Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford. Before ordination, he was a professional vocalist, including with St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir and The Sixteen. He is the author of several books, including Music and Faith: Conversations in a Post-Secular Age and Sacred Music in Secular Society. Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Transcription of Music and the Church Ep. 41: Music and Faith in a Post-Secular Age with Jonathan Arnold Sarah Bereza: Let's start out by talking about your relationship to music and your own faith background. Jonathan Arnold: I have always had a love of music and particularly of singing. So I've been in choirs ever since I was a young child at a primary school, secondary school. And then towards the end of my secondary education, I discovered the wealth of Cathedral music, which I didn't really know at all. But when I was about 18, I joined the cathedral choir and had a very steep learning curve of learning to sight read, learning Anglican choir repertoire, which I didn't know, learning how to sing with lay clerks and choristers. And after a year of that very steep learning curve, I went to university in Oxford where I fell in love with the whole world of choral singing and joined as many choirs as I could possibly join. And at the end of that first year, I then was offered a sort of permanent position at one of what's known as the foundations in Oxford, which is one of the big five choir foundations in Oxford and Cambridge. Jonathan Arnold: So at Magdalen College Oxford, I became a choral scholar, which meant that I was singing seven or eight services every single week, different repertoire for each one. So by that time I could sight read. And by that time, even though I was studying theology at the university officially and had a vocation towards that, I discovered this other vocation, which was music and singing. And I was absolutely determined to to follow that. So at the end of university, I packed up my bags, moved to London without a penny or a job, started teaching music wherever I could, joining choirs wherever I could, making a crust, paying the rent, and then applying to music college. And I went to the Royal Academy of Music, studied singing, and became a professional singer. So I sang for eight years with St. Paul's Cathedral Choir and for 14 years in total with a choir called The Sixteen, who are a professional English choir and many other choirs as well as well as doing solo things. Jonathan Arnold: But the theology was always there. So whilst I was doing that, I then registered at King's College London to do a doctorate in church history as it happens and completed the doctorate. And then the two vocations of music and theology led me down this path where ordination sort of came at the end of that road. And I went forward for selection and became a priest. So after a few years of training and curacy, I basically gave up the singing and started work as a full time college chaplain in Oxford at Worcester College. And I did that for eight years. And then I've transferred to Magdalen college where I've been Dean of Divinity. And in both of those environments in Oxford, there's a lot of music. There's wonderful college choirs, music within the liturgy as well as pastoral ministry, academic work and so on. Jonathan Arnold: So that's where I've,

Hymnals and screens often get a knee-jerk response. Supposedly, either hymnals are for old fogeys or people staying true to the faith. And either screens are for people who hate hymns or people who want to use current tools in the church. But if we get past the surface arguments, we can explore what the pros and cons really are for our congregational singing mediums: hymnals, screen, paperless music, and printed supplements like orders of worship. On this episode, Crawford Wiley joins me for a thoughtful conversation about our options. Image via.

We work harder than you think, calling doesn't always look conventional, and other things your church leaders wish you knew. Throughout the past year of interviews, I asked people extra questions and this one drew the most passionate response by far: "What do you wish people knew about your job?" On this Music and the Church episode, Darrell St. Romain, Deanna Witkowski, Pr. Lisa Heffernan, Anita Smallin, J. J. Wright, Chelsea Chen, and Anny Stevens-Gleason share what they wish people knew about their ministries in the church. Here are the previous episodes that featured today's guests: Chelsea Chen on Artist Residencies and Concert Series in the ChurchPr. Lisa Heffernan on Welcoming People with Disabilities in Church Music MinistryAnita Smallin on "A Noisy Church Is a Living Church"Darrell St. Romain on Congregational Singing at MassAnny Stevens-Gleason on Getting Youth Invested in Music MinistryDeanna Witkowski on Congregational SingingJ. J. Wright on Leading the Notre Dame Folk Choir Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources Mentioned on This Episode: "Ten Things This Youth Minister Wants You to Know" by Anita SmallinThe Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman"The Canticle of Turning"Frogs Without Legs Can't Hear by David W. Anderson and Paul Hill What do YOU wish people knew about your ministry in the church?

“The great thing about a chord - you’re already dealing with something people enjoy. You’re not telling people God is a problem to be solved - you’re saying that the Trinity is a reality to be enjoyed.” - Jeremy Begbie I knew our conversation would be theologically rich—Dr. Jeremy Begbie IS a theologian, after all—but I didn't realize we would get into what is at stake in how we understand God. If God isn't something to be solved—in fact, not a problem at all—how different our love for God can be. On this month's episode of Music and the Church, Jeremy Begbie and I discuss themes from his recent book A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts, including how music can help us think about our faith, created beauty and creative beauty, and sentimentality. (And yes, how God isn't a problem.) Also: why church services need more dissonant music (yes really!). Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Dr. Jeremy Begbie is a Professor of Theology at Duke University and a Professor at Wolfson College, Cambridge. His numerous books include Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music and Theology, Music and Time. He has also performed extensively as a musician, and is an ordained minister of the Church of England. P.S. If you curious about A Peculiar Orthodoxy here's a short review.

This month's episode of Music and the Church features a conversation with Dr. J. J. Wright. J. J. directs the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, one of America’s most influential Catholic music ensembles. He is a Grammy Award winning jazz musician, composer of O Emmanuel, an album which debuted at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts, and he’s also a scholar of sacred music. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. In our conversation, J. J. and I talk about his journey from military band member to directing the Notre Dame Folk Choir, and how his jazz skills and sacred musicianship have complemented each other. We also talk about how the music we make can reflect our deepest beliefs about what the Church is. What can the music of the Church sound like if we believe the Church is Christians at all times and in all places?

How did American Christians go from hating rock 'n' roll to embracing contemporary worship music? One reason is Pentecostalism's influence. On Music and the Church, we've explored how important Pentecostalism was in making the change, and how influential it continues to be on contemporary worship. (Check out this episode if you're curious.) But Pentecostalism also had a huge influence on the development of rock 'n' roll itself, especially through the music of Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and James Brown - all musicians who worshipped in the Pentecostal tradition growing up. On this episode, learn more about the connection between rock 'n' roll and American Christianity as Randall J. Stephens discusses his recent book The Devil's Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned and Embraced Rock 'N' Roll. Randall J. Stephens is an Associate Professor of British & American Studies at the University of Oslo. You can follow him here on Twitter, and explore some of his other work on American Christianity here. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music - it's the best way for them to find the show!

We believe that people all people are made in the image of God. Full stop. So, when we are talking about how to make our churches more inclusive, we aren’t talking about welcoming people even though they have disabilities (or even though they are children, as we talked about in last month's episode). The goal is making our programs better reflect our theology. The goal is living out our beliefs about what it means to be human, and what it means to love and serve God in community with our siblings in Christ.  About Pr. Lisa Heffernan Pastor Lisa Heffernan pastors in South Dakota in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American. She also serves on the ELCA Disabilities Ministry Team. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned "Why Americans Go (and Don’t Go) to Religious Services," from the Pew Research ForumLast month's Music and the Church episode with Anita Smallin, which covers similar theological areas in relationship to welcoming children in church services Favorite Quotes from the Conversation “We were raised with the idea that it takes all kinds of people to make our world. We all have a place, we all are important, whatever our gifts and abilities may be. And not the perspective of, even though you have a disability, you’re important. No, you are important in the fullness that you are.” — Pastor Lisa Heffernan “If we believe in a God that embraces all people, we then are called to embrace one another in the name of Christ, and to find ways to make our worshipping communities, all our communities, as ‘accessible’ as possible, so that all can fully participate, because all are beloved children of God.” — Pastor Lisa Heffernan "The longer our churches stay inaccessible — whatever that looks like — the fewer people we are going to have hear the gospel. And what’s our mission here? We’re not a social club, we’re a church, and our call is to share the gospel. How do we best do that?" — Pastor Lisa Heffernan Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music. It's the best way for them to find the show!

Children and the church. Children in the church.  It's complicated, especially with music in the mix. Join Anita Smallin and me as we discuss how to welcome our littlest sisters and brothers in worship services. About Anita Smallin Anita is the Youth and Family Ministry Director at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Bethesda, Maryland. She holds a master's degree in Children, Youth, and Family Ministry from Luther Seminary. She is part of the ELCA Disability Ministry Team. Music and the Church Update A quick update on Music and the Church: I'm moving the podcast to a monthly schedule. Last year I released 27 episodes (awesome! also: whew!). This year, I need to make space for other exciting projects, while also maintaining quality for Music and the Church. So look for episodes once a month! Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned Anita's blog, with stats on how much time youth leaders like her spend with children in their churchesAugsburg Fortress Splash!Soul Searching: The Religious an Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melina Lungquist DentonWhirl and Spark Story Bibles Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music. It's the best way for them to find the show!

Join Monique M. Ingalls, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, and Zoe C. Sherinian in a conversation about their new edited collection: Making Congregational Music Local in Christian Communities Worldwide. Here's more information about the editors: Monique M. Ingalls, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, and Zoe C. Sherinian.More information on Making Congregational Music Local in Christian Communities Worldwide. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends—it's the best way for them to find the show!

Composer Kathryn Rose began Cecilia's List to help music directors find sacred choral music written by women. Her site links directors to music grouped by Season and by Lectionary readings. Kathryn Rose hails from Canada, and is now based in London and studying for a PhD in composition at the University of Aberdeen. We talk about Cecilia’s List and how musicians can more intentionally program music written by women. We also discuss Kathryn’s music and why she uses creative commons licensing for her music. Finally, we talk about Evensong and West Gallery Music, a style popular in the 1700s and early 1800s. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned Kathryn Rose's bio and composer websiteCecilia's ListWest Gallery Music Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love all things church related. It's the best way for them to find the show!

Jazz composer and pianist Deanna Witkowski shows how hymn arrangements can enrich our interactions with familiar texts. And she discusses how we can better welcome guest musicians into our congregations. Deanna Witkowski has a wide range of musical experience, including as a church musician and as a guest artist in churches. Many of her compositions are sacred works, including a song my choir often sings as an introit—"We Walk in Love." In 2017, her hymn "We Belong to God" won the Annual Hymn Search of The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada.  Among Deanna's many accolades, she has won the Great American Jazz Piano Competition. She has also released six albums, including most recently Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mention Deanna's website and her Bandcamp pageDeanna's sheet musicMakes the Heart to SingDeanna's article in Down BeatLectio Divina Interested in Hearing More about Congregational Singing? If you're interested in congregational singing, check out these other Music and the Church resources. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love all things church related. It's the best way for them to find the show!

What's the difference between ministry and a job when your income comes from a church but you're not a pastor? What is your vocation and calling? In this week's podcast episode, church musician Crawford Wiley and I discuss how our personal identities align with our ministry in the church. Neither of us is a pastor, but we both feel a deep sense of fulfillment in our ministries through the churches we work for. We also care about having healthy boundaries so that we don't burn out. What does church ministry mean to you? And is "job versus ministry" a fair question? Some ways of thinking about church employment are: Job, which often implies a singular source of income and a negative "it's just a job" connotationCareer, which often implies a longterm plan and potentially a source of longterm satisfactionVocation, with the sense of "this is God's calling for you," and something you can't "clock out" fromMinistry, including being a "pastoral musician," implies caregiving and helping other people (you can't minister just by yourself!) Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. On Healthy Boundaries in Church Ministry Fact: as much time as you give, that's how much time the church will take. Not because the church is bad, but because there are endless ways to serve. If you alway and only give, you will burn out. So, you have to find healthy boundaries and ways to replenish your soul and body. On Why We're Here Through all the heartache that ministry brings, remember that we get to see Christ in the people we minister to. Through all the heartache, the sadness, the continual encounters with death and dying, keep your eyes on Christ. This Week's Podcast Guest: Crawford Wiley Crawford Wiley is the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Longtime listeners will know Crawford as the co-host of the first season of Music and the Church. It is a delight having him back on the show as conversation buddy! Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love all things church related—it's the best way for them to find the show!

Catholics can sing! Here's how one music director leads congregational singing at Mass in bilingual and multi-ethnic parishes. Darrell St. Romain is the Director of Music at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Farmers Branch, TX. With his background ranging from rural Louisiana to the Cathedral of Dallas (where he worked while studying for his Master's Degree of Sacred Music at Southern Methodist University), he has a keen understanding of leading music programs in bilingual and multi-ethnic parishes. In our conversation we discuss: Congregational participation that doesn't necessarily entail congregational singing (something I discussed with Mary Catherine Levri in an earlier podcast episode)Teaching new music to the congregationUsing Latin in bilingual Masses to build communitySupporting various music ensembles in your congregation without micromanaging the leaders of those groupsThe dangers of labeling services by musical style (the "Gospel Mass" at 9:30, the "Traditional Mass" at 11) Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Favorite Quotes Darrell on teaching new Mass settings: remember, "no matter where you are working, there are always going to be people who want to participate." (So help them out!) "Why do we have to be comfortable when we come to worship? I don't think anybody who had an encounter with Jesus was comfortable the whole time." –Darrell St. Romain on congregational singing at Mass Resources We Mentioned Another perspective on congregational participation at Mass earlier on Music and the ChurchFlor y canto Lead Me, Guide Me (1st and 2nd editions)"Alabaré a mi Señor""Taste and See""Holy, Holy, Holy""Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love ministry—it's the best way for them to find the show!

Want to get kids to church VERY early on Sunday mornings? Here's how one music leader uses bands to get youth invested in music ministry. Anny Stevens-Gleason knows something about getting kids to church. She’s the Minister for Liturgy and Incorporation at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (Cincinnati, Ohio). She directs three bands that cover the contemporary service at the church—one for 5th through 8th graders, one for high schoolers, and one for adults. For the musicians, that means rehearsing on Saturday afternoons, showing up early on Sunday mornings, practicing the music at home, and maybe studying it in a private lesson. When I was the interim organist at the the church, I saw firsthand how well this program worked. These young people made high-quality music, and their investment in the band was long-term. Helping Youth People Engage More Fully with Their Faith For me, the big goal in learning about Anny’s ministry is that I want to help young people engage more fully in their faith. What I like about the band model is that bands intrinsically have room for a wider range of musical skills than choirs do. For one, you don’t have to sing in order to participate. If you do sing, you might have the skill to sing lead, or you might have the skill to sing melody on the refrain with a chorus of other people. And all of those roles are important in the band, and they all engage the musicians. Is This Just About Pop Music? No, this episode is primarily about the band model—the way the musicians form an ensemble. We’re not really talking about a particular music style. Second, if you’re thinking, “I don’t do that top 40 hits stuff,” know that Anny starts with the hymnal. In fact, she encourages us to start with the songs the congregation and musicians already know. Finally, Anny’s background is in classical voice, so we’re talking about how classical trained musicians can do this—and why. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Key Takeaways from the Conversation Give musicians a safe place to learn and grow, and you give them confidence that leads to excellence.It’s important to discuss song lyrics, especially when connecting secular lyrics to a sacred context.If you are starting a band, choose songs the musicians and congregation already know. Think of it as familiar songs with a different accompaniment.When introducing a new song, it’s okay (even good!) to repeat it for several weeks. In Anny’s case, it is easy to keep the same song feeling fresh because the accompaniment changes every week as different bands lead.The learning curve for a mixing board can be steep. If you are thinking of starting a band, take this necessary education into account. Is there a volunteer in the church who can take lead on this? If you are the person who needs to manage the sound board, how much time can you allot to continuing education? Resources We Mentioned Anny's SoundcloudAnny's Spotify PlaylistSpikenard, the high school band Anny leadsShruti boxMusic That Makes CommunityYou Call That Church Music?Singing from the Lectionary"The Scientist" by Coldplay"Shine" by Collective Soul Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with your friends who love church music. It's the best way for them to find the show!

We might be the experts in the room, and our expertise is valuable, but so are experiences of the people we lead. Teaching with Respect: Inclusive Pedagogy for Choral Directors by Stephen Sieck has a message for all of us in leadership positions. We who are leaders need to respect the experiences of the people we lead.  Dr. Stephen Sieck is Associate Professor of Music and Co-Director of Choral Studies at Lawrence University. He has also ministered in church choirs and is an accomplished vocalist. In our conversation, we talk about respect and vulnerability in choir rehearsals, and we discuss how we express values through our musical programming. Key Takeaways from the Conversation Imagine how a choral experience could affect someone who is not you.In a church choir, respect is not just for the choir members. It's also for the whole congregation, and for the Church in its universal, global, and historical senses.Think of the church choir as a kind of Sunday school, small fellowship, or Emmaus group.Examine the music you program and think about the values you are expressing through your choices. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Favorite Quote Stephen Sieck's encouragement for congregational singing and volunteer church choirs:  "Music is very clearly valued as part of the worshipping experience all throughout the Bible. Being perfect at it is never in there." Resources We Mentioned Webcast Archive at Lawrence UniversityAdolphus Hailstork"O Love" by Elaine Hagenberg"Blessed Be the Lord, My Rock" by Abbie BetinisAndrea RamseyThe Spark Story Bible Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love ministry. It's the best way for them to find the show!

What are artists-in-residence and how can they benefit churches and musicians? Learn from concert organist Chelsea Chen about artist residencies and visioning for concert series. Chelsea Chen has held Artist-in-Residence positions at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fr. Lauderdale, FL). She draws on her experiences there as well as in her career as a composer, concert artist, and church musician as she shares how churches can support the arts through their staffing and in the concerts they sponsor. We also discuss using organ in blended church services, and the music she has planned for her upcoming wedding! Key Takeaways from the Conversation Consider using rhythm charts if you are integrating organ into a band in a blended service.When planning a concert series, start with the vision, then think about specifics.If your church owns an organ in good repair and runs a concert series, include organ in the regular series (not a separate “organ only” series). Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mention Chelsea Chen's compositions and albumsFanfare, Op. 85, by C. S. LangLaudate Dominum by MozartNocturne (from the String Quartet No. 2), by Borodin"Let Us Love and Sing in Wonder" – hymn text by John NewtonPrélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du 'Veni Creator', Op. 4 by Maurice DuruflêExplorations for Cello and Organ – album by Chelsea Chen and Joseph Lee Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love ministry and music—it's the best way for them to find the show!

Church services can be incredibly distracting places, especially for leaders—you’re in the choir, you’re reading the scriptures, you're leading prayers, you’re preaching the sermon. What does it mean for us participate with our hearts—not just our lips!—when we’re busy with mundane things like adjusting a microphone or remembering a last minute announcement?  Dr. Mary Catherine Levri, Music Director at the Atheneum of Ohio, brings wisdom to this topic and draws us to a heart of worship. Mary Catherine speaks from her personal faith and comes to this topic from her background in music and theology, including earning a D.M.A. at the University of Notre Dame. As part of her position at the Atheneum, she instructs seminarians in music. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Key Takeaways from the Conversation Think of "active participation" as the coupling of two things—our interior, in-our-hearts participation, and also our exterior, what-we-are doing participation. To paraphrase Isaiah 29:13, we should approach God with both our lips and our hearts.Active participation for those of us leading the service (as pastors, readers, cantors and so on) can include our participation prior to the service—Scriptural reading ahead of time, singing hymns thoughtfully as we practice, praying the prayers that the congregation will pray together.If you are selecting music for your church, focus first on the music you sing most often. The congregation will always have that music to sing well, whether or not they join in on other pieces. And you will welcome young children to participate, since they can learn this music by rote. Resources We Mentioned Tra le sollecitudini, a motu proprio issued by Pope Pius X in 1903St. CeciliaWhy Catholics Can't Sing by Thomas DayCarrie Allen Tipton on early Lutheran congregational singingHarrison Russin on the musical training of Eastern Orthodox seminarians Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music—it's the best way for them to find the show!

If you’re in a majority-white American church, singing global songs like “Siyahamba” brings up questions like — “Is singing this cultural appropriation or ethnotourism?” and "What is the relationship between global song and the universal Church?" In her research with music directors and church members in mainline Protestant churches, ethnomusicologist Dr. Marissa Glynias Moore, a Lecturer at Yale University, finds that by singing global songs, directors intend to express their beliefs about hospitality and what the universal Church is. For them, “the point of singing” global song “is to sing this music so much that it stops feeling Other.” Resources We Mentioned "Reamo leboga" ("We Give Our Thanks")"Njalo" ("Always"), also published in Njalo (Always): A Collection of 16 Hymns in the African TraditionC. Michael HawnBrian HehnThe Hymn SocietyJohn L. BellThe Sonic Color Line Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who minister in the church—it's the best way for them to find the show!

How do you design your summer in church ministry? One of my favorite thinkers, Gretchen Rubin, talks about "designing your summer." It's a way of intentionally making the season distinct and special. In this episode, Crawford and I talk about what we do that's different in the summer—from the mundane "file all the choir music we haven't for several months" to the wonderful leisure to play repertoire we wouldn't normally have time for. Reset: put things away, take a vacation etc.Take Stock: what's working in your program? what could be improved or changed?Plan: nothing like a quiet summer to plan all your preludes/postludes/hymns/anthems (hey, we can dream, right?!)Have Fun: of course, what "fun" is, is up to you! Check out our episode on "Playing Music for Fun" if you'd like some ideas. The one thing making this summer especially special for me is that I will be beginning a new position as Minister of Music at the First Congregational Church of St. Louis! This is the last episode of Season 1 of the Music and the Church podcast! Thank you for listening! We'll be back in September for Season Two. Even though the podcast is on summer vacation, I will still be posting about once a week on the blog and publishing a monthly newsletter. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music—it's the best way for them to find the show!

You're an organist, a choir director, or other musician. Here are the top 8 things to do to get a church music job you love. This spring I did a survey of 268 church musicians and people who have hired them. I learned a lot about what makes a great job applicant. In this week's episode, Crawford and I dig into 8 highlights: Word of mouth is one of the best ways to find church music jobs. To find out more about a church, just call or email the search committee chair or another person connected with the church like the pastor. Seriously. Just call them already. Find out salary norms for your area. You can't negotiate well if you don't know what normal is. ALWAYS tailor your job application materials. Most job searches have fewer than 15 applicants and your application will almost certainly be read.Don't be afraid of interview questions about conflict. Every church has conflict and the hiring committee wants to know that you can work in a church setting. Personal questions are legal in the U.S. for church interviews. So think ahead about what you want to say about your faith, your family, and so on. Negotiate if you can. But not all churches are willing or even able to negotiate. Be decent and polite. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music—it's the best way for them to find the show! Get a Church Music Job You Love Series This series is based on my survey of over 250 church musicians and the people who have hired them. I surveyed 250+ church musicians. Here's what I learned about getting a church music job you love.17 Places to Find Church Music Jobs3 Ways to Research a Church Music Job OpeningHow Much Are Church Musicians Paid? Here's How to Find Out.How to Write a Church Music Cover Letter and Resume (Plus the #1 Way to Make Hiring Committees Happy)29 Interview Questions You Might Get (Plus 34 for YOU to Ask)How to Negotiate Salary and Benefits (and Why You Should)4 Things You Need to Get a Church Music Job You Love (Plus 9 Big No-nos)Do These 8 Things to Get a Church Music Job You Love (Ep. 22 of the Music and the Church Podcast)

For the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about musical virtuosity. This week’s guest is Dr. Birgitta Johnson, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina, and the President of the Southeast and Caribbean Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology. In this episode, Birgitta discusses being anointed for music ministry. In the African American churches that she’s studied as an ethnomusicologist, musical skill is important but not the be-all-end-all. Musicians should also be called to ministry. Here's the heart of what Birgitta is seeing between virtuosity and being anointed for music ministry: "You have some people who don't know anything about Jesus and who can play really, really well. If you give them enough tracks, or enough recordings, or enough guides—they can play it just like the most anointed musician on the pew. And so, when you start talking about how we identify what is anointing, often I've seen, it really comes down to the larger relationships that happen in music ministry." Musicians often spend the most time together of any group in the church. And people leading music ministry often spend more face-time with lay people than other ministers can. So, Birgitta says, the relationships that a minister of music has with other musicians in the church "reveal where the person's heart is for ministry." You can find Dr. Birgitta Johnson on Facebook, Twitter, and at her University of South Carolina faculty page. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Other episodes in our virtuosity series: Ep. 18: Virtuosity, Amateurism, and Amateurishness in Evangelical Worship Music, with Joshua BusmanEp. 19: Showing Off or Glorifying God? Musical Virtuosity in Fundamentalist Christianity, with Sarah BerezaEp. 20: What IS Virtuosity? Musical Skill and Guitarist Tony Melendez, with David VanderHamm Resources Mentioned in This Episode Worship as a Lifestyle by Judith Christie McAllisterNo Gimmicks: Relevancy, Commitment, and Excellence in Worship Ministry by Leo DavisThe Seed of David: A Worshipper's Guide to Mend the Heart and Discipline the Flesh by Stephen HurdThe Spirit of Praise: Music and Worship in Global Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, edited by Monique M. Ingalls and Amos Yong. This book includes Birgitta Johnson's chapter "'This Is Not the Warm-Up Act!': How Praise and Worship Reflects Expanding Musical Traditions and Theology in a Bapticostal Charismatic African American Megachurch." Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music. It's the best way for them to find the show!

What is virtuosity? It isn't just about the sound itself, but who makes the sound and how they make it. Today's episode is the third in our series on virtuosity. In the last two episodes, Joshua Busman and I both considered whether virtuosity is or isn't acceptable—and why—in evangelical worship music and in fundamentalist Christianity. But today's guest, Dr. David VanderHamm, flips this question around. Instead of researching a church or denomination, and then sometimes focusing on virtuosity in that context, David starts with virtuosity. One particular examples of virtuosity that he has studied is the ministry of guitarist Tony Melendez. Melendez was born without arms and was blessed by Pope John Paul II to share his music with other Christians. His ministry is inspirational, but his conversation with David complicates that narrative, noting that “There still has to be the time, the practice. It’s not like overnight I could just do it—I had to take the time to learn the instrument.” Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned Tony Melendez's official websiteVideo of Tony Melendez singing for Pope John Paul II in 1987Virtuosity can make something very difficult look like play—something we discussed in Ep. 16 with Ashley Danyew Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends who love church music. It's the best way for them to find the show!

Should you play or sing virtuosic music in church?  Many fundamentalist Christians don't think so. This week’s episode is the second in our series on musical virtuosity. Last week, Joshua Kalin Busman discussed how evangelical musicians might tone down the difficulty of their music—balancing their churches’ need for musical “amateurism” with the reality the “amateurish” mistakes would distract from musical worship. In a more conservative circle of evangelicalism, many fundamentalist Christian musicians experience a different kind of tension. On one hand, they want to follow the command, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (from Ecc. 9:10), and develop their musical abilities. But on the other hand, the “musical excellence” they pursue through classical training is not necessarily useful in their church services because it might sound like they are showing off. Ultimately, ministering to their fellow Christians is the most important factor. And many musicians limit the virtuosity of what they sing or play so that their abilities do not get the attention. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned My dissertation on music in fundamentalist Christianity, plus other blog resources I've written on the topicInner Singing, one way that congregations participate in instrumental hymn arrangementsJames Koerts on simplifying piano hymn accompaniment Share This Podcast If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with your friends who enjoy church music. That's the best way for new listeners to find this podcast!

Musical virtuosity in church services. Is it showing off? Giving God your best? Christians often come to opposite conclusions. Today's podcast episode is the first in a series about virtuosity. We're kicking off the series by talking with Dr. Joshua Kalin Busman, an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina—Pembroke. He researches "music in religious communities, liturgical theology, mass-media, and identity politics in American popular music," with a particular focus on Evangelical worship music.  Joshua Busman studies white Evangelical megachurches where virtuosity gets seen as showing off and taking attention away from God. In fact, Josh says that in these churches, "the role of the church musicians is essentially to become invisible." But as the same time, worship music isn't an amateurish style of music (unlike, say, punk), so even though musicians aren't supposed to draw attention to their skills, they do have to be skilled to play it. Martin Luther's contemporary, the theologian Andreas Karlstadt, wrote about this tension that we still feel over 500 years later. Josh describes Karlstadt’s “conundrum" like this: "In order to honor God properly with worship we would want to have a performance that is of the highest possible quality. In fact we can’t imagine a context in which we would need a higher quality performance than a performance in which the primary audience is God. However, in order to execute such a performance, our attention would have to be so fully devoted to executing the performance properly that we would end up canceling out our ability to focus on worshipping, because we would be so fully immersed in trying to execute the performance properly. So there’s this double bind that is sort of seeded into the beginning of thinking about Protestant worship, in which focus on technical proficiency or skill is placed in contract to focus on proper worship.” Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned Music and the Church podcast episode on musical views in the Early Church Share This Podcast You can help other people find this podcast sharing it with friends who love church music!

For many Christians, the Methodist tradition is one of their most important sources of hymnody. Dr. Martin V. Clarke's new book British Methodist Hymnody explores the roots of this rich repertoire as well as the distinctive features of Methodist worship today. Dr. Martin V. Clarke (faculty page, Twitter) is Lecturer in Music at The Open University and author of the new book British Methodist Hymnody: Theology, Heritage, and Experience. Martin covers five main areas in our conversation: How Methodists leaders have used hymnody that doesn't line up with their theological viewpointsAltered hymn lyrics, including Charles Wesley'sHow Methodist leaders have determined whether or not popular music styles should be used in church servicesWhat we see in Methodist services today and how a praise band can function like a choirWhat makes Methodist hymnody distinctly "Methodist" Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources We Mentioned John Wesley's Directions for SingingCrawford and I on approaches to altering hymn lyrics Share This Podcast You can help other people find this podcast sharing it with friends who love church music!

Professional musicians often associate "playing for fun" with being a kid, an amateur—being somone who isn't serious about the music they make. But playing music for fun has huge benefits, besides the obvious: it's fun. It's not that playing music for fun has to have other benefits. But its easier to make time for playing around, when you know there are benefits besides having fun. Today's guest is musician and educator Dr. Ashley Danyew. She says that "playing for your own enjoyment and for the sake of the music itself really feed the rest of the work we do as musicians." According to research by Dr. Stuart Brown and others, playing also preps you for "real" scenarios by giving you a safe place to learn without fear of a failure. Ashley and I came up with ten ways we musicians can play for fun: Learn a different musical skill (e.g. figured bass or open score for keyboardists), either on your own or in a class or workshopLearn a piece by earImprovise in a new-to-you styleReharmonize a hymnPlay with other musicians (e.g. informal chamber music)Play a piece or style that's new to you or that you wouldn't usually play (e.g. secular holiday music or playing in a band)Produce a musical eventPlay in little pockets of time if you have an instrument at homeLearn a new instrumentCompose What makes any of these activities fun is that they are for your own enjoyment. They aren't necessarily fun in and of themselves. It's your experience that makes the activity for fun or not. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Favorite Quotes "Playing for fun is coming from that place of intrinsic motivation. It can help prevent burn out, it can help you work through creative blocks, if you're getting stuck somewhere or you just feel like you're going through the motions. It can help reignite that creative spark. And it's also a way to remember why you started in the first place—what first led you to pursue music, why and how it captivated you." — Ashley Danyew "Playing for fun makes me a more whole musician. I'm more myself because I can express myself musically." — Sarah Bereza Resources We Mentioned Play by Stuart Brown, MD, with Christopher Vaughn ("Playful interaction allows for a penalty-free rehearsal of the normal give and take of social groups," p. 32.)The National Institute for PlayDrive by Daniel H. Pink and Ashley's take on the bookAshley's keyboard skills course Share This Podcast You can help other people find this podcast by sharing it with your friends who love church music.

We use our bodies every day to make music—but we usually forget about our physical health until something goes wrong. Certified Alexander Technique instructor Ted Gibboney, D.M.A., shares how the Alexander Technique can help church musicians, as well as other people experiencing tension in their bodies. Ted was working full-time as the music director of a large church when he got a pain in his neck, literally. That discomfort—and the loss of control of his limbs—led him to healing through the Alexander Technique. Because of the difference it made in his life, he decided to pursue certification as an instructor and bring that wellness to other people. Key Takeaways: Organists: beware bench height and correct shoe size.Many people don't know what a relaxed body feels like until they experience that freedom. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources If you'd like to find out more about Ted's practice, his email is: ted [dot] gibboney [at] gmail [dot] comThe American Society for the Alexander Technique

Do you work as a substitute organist or hire them? This episode is for you! Crawford, Catie Moyer, and I have many (many!) strategies for subbing and hiring subs. Because we have so much to share, we decided to make this post a how-to. If you scroll down, you'll find detailed strategies, questions to ask about the nitty-gritties of each church's habits, and a checklist of things to ask when subbing at an unfamiliar church. About Catie Moyer Catie and I have known each other since elementary school, and we actually took organ lessons from the same teachers in high school and college! (What are the odds that two kids from a little Baptist church in middle Georgia would end up professional organists?) Catie Moyer has her bachelor's degree in church music, and she works regularly as a substitute organist in Greenville, SC and the surrounding Upstate. She's also active in many other musical areas: her day job is as a music education specialist at a music store, she's part of the organ/harp duo Voix Celeste, and she sings alto with the South Carolina Bach Choir. She writes that she "is passionate about making the organ and its music accessible to the average, untrained, or even skeptical listener." And she gives seasonal recitals (like a Thanksgiving recital) that help her achieve that goal. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources: In this episode, I mention a survey for church musicians and people who've hired them. If you haven't taken it already, please take 5-10 minutes to share your insight with other people applying to church jobs: take the survey. I'll be posting the results later this spring. How to Have a Positively Great Time Being a Swell Substitute If you are subbing, or hiring someone to sub for you, there are lots of little details that you need to think about. Here's a guide to figuring out the idiosyncrasies of each service. Before the service: Get the order of worship. Then ask: Hymns: Are the hymns announced?How many stanzas? Are all the stanzas sung, always? Other music: What is the exact introduction that the congregation is used to?Are there any places for improvisation? (e.g. after a Gospel reading)What rhythms for the Doxology and is there an Amen? (Yes, I’ve played at a church that didn’t sing an amen!)Anything else musical that hasn’t been specifically mentioned? (e.g. is there a children’s sermon and an expectation of music to accompany the children’s journey out of the sanctuary?) Instrument: What memory level(s) or pistons can be used? What pistons have the typical hymn-accompaniment registrations?Anything tricky about the instrument? (e.g. sticking keys, ciphers, unusual method to set the pistons, how to turn it on) Communion This is the trickiest part of a service. Check exactly when to start/stop playing, and don’t assume that churches in the same denomination do things identically. I always ask “what will I *see* when I need to stop?” If you don’t intend to take communion and this church takes the elements to congregants (rather than having them come to the altar), you may wish to tell the deacons (not just the pastor) that  you don’t intend to partake—well-meaning deacons may bring the elements to you otherwise. Some churches want soft music while ministers are talking, and in other churches, if someone is talking, the music needs to stop right now. Find out which kind of church this is! Building: Can the organist see the altar, pastor, choir director etc. from the instrument?What times is the building available for practice?How to get into the building before the service? Is there any information needed for parking?When will the church be open on the day of the service?What phone # should be called if the church isn’t open? Other: Are there prayers or other elements that aren’t in the order of service...

Ryan P. Harper discusses his new book, The Gaithers and Southern Gospel: Homecoming in the Twenty-First Century.  Bill and Gloria Gaither are known for their many hymns like “Because He Lives” “He Touched Me” and “The Family of God.” Between them, they’ve won 6 Grammys. Harper’s book focuses on their Homecomings: in 1991, it seemed like Bill’s work as a singer was winding down and they recorded a “Homecoming” video as a kind of goodbye. But that Homecoming recording ended up launching a whole second career for them.  We discuss the "quiet power" of lyricist Gloria Gaither, the belief behind the Gaithers' inclusive approach to musical style, and authenticity as it relates to church musicians. Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. In The Field: Crawford and I discuss whether to change hymn lyrics. What are your beliefs about the purpose of congregational singing? Should a hymn writer's intent prevail over a specific church's beliefs? Resource: We mention When God Speaks Through Worship: Stories Congregations Live By by Craig A. Satterlee

Let's Think about Music in the Early Church: What did leaders in the early church have to say about music? Perhaps surprisingly, their general view of music is relatively low. And when they did praise music, they usually qualified their statements. Crawford and I cover the four main areas that the Church Fathers and other early church leaders address when they talk about music: musical metaphor, the academic discipline of music (ars musica), pagan music (instruments=bad!), and good/Christian uses of music in Eucharistic services, agape meals and other social settings, and private devotional life. Listener Question: Kirsten wonders how choir members can give an offering:  "It drives me nuts when choir members have no easy way to participate in the offering! Often there’s no plate (and the choir is maybe even singing during the offering); sometimes it’s possible to dash up right after the service and stick an envelope in the plate at the front, but sometimes it’s whisked away before choir members would even have a chance to get there, especially if you’re staying put and listening to the postlude." Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources: Music in Early Christian Literature by James McKinnonI'm a Church Choir Director and/or Organist Facebook Group